Attacks on female politicians personal

So here we go. Four years of a government in Ontario with Doug Ford leading the way. I wonder if those who elected him realize what he is going to do to this province. I wonder if they care. It seems as though their anger and hatred — yes hatred — of Kathleen Wynne pushed them to vote for the Cons instead of the NDP. If I heard one more time about Bob Rae I was going to scream. Wasn’t it the Cons that kept telling us to quit bringing up Mike Harris? Both ways, people.

I believe that the fact Ford was running against two very capable women played a huge factor in his win. I hate the fact that I believe sexism and misogyny played a role but how else do you explain the spewing of horrible awful comments that followed Wynne where ever she went? This wasn’t about her politics, it was personal. Someone told me a few years ago that they felt homophobia played a role and at the time I dismissed it, but I don’t anymore. And again I hate that I believe that; it makes me sad that in this day and age our elections are decided on gender or sexual orientation.

A recent article in the Walrus by Ira Wells, titled The Unpopularity of Female Politicians Has Everything to do with Sexism, points out the comments that have followed Wynne throughout her career on Twitter, etc., have nothing to do with the Liberal policies. For example, “when a Reddit user writes that ‘Wynne is an egotistical, sadistic, sexual vampire … I will have to put a wooden stake through her heart, cut off her head, stuff it with garlic and then burn her,’ the issue isn’t Hydro shares or transit stops," Wells writes. And according to others, this type of comment is tame compared to some or perhaps most.

It has always astounded me how personal the criticism of female politicians is. Forget about commenting on policies that may be disliked — no, we have comments that are hate-filled, violent and homophobic. It would be easier to believe perhaps that it is stupidity rather than abuse. Perhaps these guys can’t articulate a critical comment on a policy so they go after the personal? Regardless, it needs to stop.

We have a premier now who has vowed to cancel a minimum wage increase, remove the caps on greenhouse gas emissions, dump plans to expand free or affordable child care, dismantle an updated sex-ed curriculum, to name a few promises.

Then there are the comments he has made about abortion. Ford was supported by the Campaign for Life Coalition, an anti-abortion group, and he has stated that it’s OK with him if any member of his party wants to address the current legislation. He is also going to consider making it mandatory for young women under 16 to get their parents’ permission if they want to have an abortion. Currently they do not need consent if their doctor believes they are capable of understanding that decision.

According to a CBC poll, women ranked Ford the lowest of all the party leaders when it came to being trustworthy. They gave him 1.6 out of 10. And we know the people who are going to be affected the most with his unprogressive policies are going to be women.

Until we take a hard look at why we judge women harsher than men in the political arena, and until we admit the bias that many of us hold towards women in power, we are never going to get anywhere. It’s easy to pretend that sexism and misogyny don’t play a role in politics and didn’t play a role in the last election, but why should it be different here than anywhere else in the world?